Projects, The Writing Community

I need my happy endings, please, and thank you!

No Comments

The month of May marked the second month of lockdown/community quarantine for us here in the Philippines, and I think it’s safe to say the otherwise calmer people I know had begun to feel agitated because of all the uncertainty. People have lost their jobs, friends and acquaintances lost their loved ones (either to COVID-19 or another disease), and the news only got worse by the day. At this point, I had begun rereading some #romanceclass books I’ve enjoyed in the past, as well as rewatching favorite films and KDramas to self-soothe after a day of shitty news.

Let it be known that I have a pretty high tolerance for stuff that are otherwise triggering, but when the production company behind Ang Huling El Bimbo The Musical announced they would be streaming the musical for free on YouTube, I grew concerned. I’ve always thought that show needed trigger warnings, but even during their second and third run, they didn’t seem to bother with it. And because they were going to stream it through such a huge platform at no cost, I was afraid there would be people who’d get blindsided by that one scene.

So I posted a content warning on my Twitter account and skipped seeing the musical entirely. I also posted this:

Continue Reading

Projects, The Writing Community

Hello, this is Ever After calling…

No Comments

Sometime in the middle of the community quarantine here in the Philippines, a bunch of romance authors decided to work on a web series. Yep. *snaps fingers* Just like that. I think it’s safe to say spite and pettiness and rage were very strong motivators, because man…did the scripts come out so fast!

(This might have been how we looked like within 48 hours of saying “Let’s do this!”)

Anyway, long story short: Things were shitty. We wanted to make things a little better. Therefore, Hello, Ever After was conceived.

Continue Reading

Projects, The Writing Community

COVER REVEAL: Keeping Miss Kalila

No Comments

Here’s some good news for those of you who read and love my books: I’m releasing a new title on the 1st of April!

Keeping Miss Kalila has been in development since late 2018, but I only went full steam ahead in terms of writing the novel April last year. I wrote another blog entry about my struggles to finish it here.

But finally, everything’s on track and I’m very excited to share this beautiful, beautiful cover created by the amazing Miles Tan. This was based on the original photograph shot by Chi Yu Rodriguez (for @romanceclasscovers) which featured models Gab Pangilinan and Gio Gahol. Check it out!

Keeping Miss Kalila

With a job that she loves, an adorable senior dog, and a baby she fought hard to conceive on the way, life is going well for thirty-one-year old school teacher Kalila Rayos. That is, until her ex-boyfriend and first love, filmmaker Datu Alvez asks if they could try again.

Saying yes shouldn’t be too difficult. After all, she’s still also in love with him and Datu’s efforts to be there for her make her feel she truly has it all. But on top of her worries as a soon-to-be mom, a crisis that hits her school forces her to shift her priorities away from her own desires.

Will the one who got away be strong enough to stay, or will their second chance at love crumble and break her heart once more?

Please note the following content warnings for this book: miscarriage (backstory), casual sexism, and verbal and physical abuse from a parent.

This book follows #romanceclass guidelines requiring HEA/HFN for romance, and is Heat Level 3 (at least one “open door” sex scene).

Keeping Miss Kalila will be released digitally on April 1, 2020, but you may already pre-order a copy on Amazon. If you have already bought a copy, thank you so much, and I hope you enjoy reading Datu and Kalila’s love story.

P.S. If you’re posting about Keeping Miss Kalila on social media, please use the hashtags #romanceclass, #KMKNovel, and #ProjectDatu. ^^ See you all on April 1!

 

Continue Reading

Projects, The Writing Community

#romanceclass X #BuwanNgMgaAkdangPinoy Virtual Panels

No Comments
Buwan Ng Mga Akdang Pinoy Virtual Panels by #romanceclass

Part of #romanceclass’ month-long celebration of Buwan ng mga Akdang Pinoy is a weekly virtual panel that discusses the various work the community has done so far. It happens every weekend of August (Friday-Sunday) starting Friday, August 9.

Check out the week’s schedule below (subject to change without prior notice):

August 16, Friday

7:00 PM — Author AMA with Angeli Dumatol

Angeli E. Dumatol is a physician by profession and when she’s not in the clinics, she can be found writing stories, reading books, or getting lost in a daydream. Her first #romanceclass novel is Heartstruck, which is also the first book in the #romanceclassFlicker collection.

Send in your questions for Angeli here.

9:00 PM — Author AMA with Dawn Lanuza

Dawn Lanuza writes contemporary romance, young adult fiction and prose poetry. She has two first loves – music and writing – and is lucky enough to surround herself with them. She is the author behind The Boyfriend Backtrack, The Hometown Hazard, What About Today, and the poetry collection, The Last Time I’ll Write About You. Her most recent releases are You Are Here (poetry), and Stay a Little Longer (romance novel), both published by Andrews McMeel Publishing.

Send in your questions for Dawn here.

August 17, Saturday

5:00 PM — Serving Face, or Why We Like Visual Pegs So Much

Why, indeed, do we love assigning faces to our characters? Why do we have 762743 photos of (insert actor/actress’ name here) saved in our phones/computers? And how does that help our writing process? This and more — send in your questions — on this panel.

Panelists: Ana Tejano, Bianca Mori, and Tara Frejas

Send in your questions for this panel here.

7:00 PM — So You Think You Can Vlog/Podcast?

Are you an aspiring book vlogger/podcaster? Get insights on how you can start and maintain your own book vlog or podcast in this panel!

Panelists: Ansela Corsino (Adulting for Authors), Kat Mayo (BookThingo)
Host: Carla de Guzman

Send in your questions for this panel here.

August 18, Sunday

5:00 PM — #RomanceClass Covers

#RomanceClass Covers offers more cover options for Filipino/Asian authors and their stories. We’ll talk about how this endeavor started, how it has affected the way #romanceclass covers are now conceptualized/designed, and maybe (just maybe) behind-the-scenes stories from the shoots!

Panelists: Carla de Guzman, Miles Tan, Mina V. Esguerra, Tania Arpa
Host: Chi Yu Rodriguez

Send in your questions for this panel here.

7:00 PM — Author AMA with Tara Frejas

Tara Frejas works as a Virtual Assistant by day, and writes romance by night. She published her first book in 2015 after joining Mina V. Esguerra’s Author at Once Workshop and has since written seven more books and contributed to three anthologies. Her books are often reflections of the things she loves, like basketball (Settle the Score & Hustle Play), musicals (Waiting in the Wings), and KPop (Scandalized / Play It By Ear).

Send in your questions for Tara here.

We all hope you can join us on Twitter for these discussions! (There might be some giveaways per panel, so if you’re lucky, you might win some pretty, shiny prizes!) See you on Friday! <3

PREVIOUS PANELS

WEEK ONE

August 9, Friday

7:00 PM — #romanceclassFlicker: Stories behind the #romanceclass YA imprint

Panelists: Agay Llanera, Angeli Dumatol, Danice Mae P. Sison, and Catherine Dellosa
Host: Ines Bautista-Yao

Send in your questions for this panel here.

August 10, Saturday

5:00 PM — Author AMA: Chi Yu Rodriguez

Chi Yu Rodriguez is the author of The Byebye Bouquet, Love and Other Questionable Life Choices, and No Two Ways. She is also the official photographer of #romanceclasscovers (@romanceclasscovers on Instagram). Send in your questions for Chi here.

August 11, Sunday

5:00 PM — Slay that Slump: #romanceclass authors and their writing habits + how they motivate themselves to Get Shit Done

This is an open panel hosted by Tara Frejas. All #romanceclass authors are welcome to jump in and answer questions presented during the discussion.

Send in your questions for this panel here.

7:00 PM — Author AMA: Angel C. Aquino

Angel C. Aquino is a freelance writer, editor, and content creator based in Manila. Her short story, “The Bucket List” was published in the Summit Books anthology, Coming of Age. Love At First Run is her first #romanceclass novel. Send in your questions for Angel here.

Continue Reading

Projects, The Writing Community

Bingo, anyone?

No Comments

In 2015, author Edgar Calabia Samar (Janus Silang, Walong Diwata ng Pagkahulog) started an social media campaign called #BuwanNgMgaAkdangPinoy as part of the country’s celebration of Buwan ng Wika (National Language Month). The campaign encouraged more Filipino readers to share to the world the Filipino-authored works they have enjoyed or are currently enjoying. It resulted in an influx of tweets, bookstagrams, and other posts in social media platforms featuring a lot of titles, some of them yet to be discovered by the masses.

For this year, #romanceclass is joining the campaign with a #BuwanNgMgaAkdangPinoy Bingo, which gives everyone who wishes to join a little guide to the kinds of work they should be checking out. The prize? Why, a newfound appreciation for Filipino-authored/produced work you might not have encountered before, of course!

Check out our bingo board below:

This #BuwanNgMgaAkdangPinoy bingo includes not just books but comics, songs, stage productions (musicals/plays), films, and television shows.
Continue Reading

Projects

Bookbed’s #AReaderEveryDay Project

No Comments

For the 4th year of Bookbed‘s A Reader Every Day project, they are raising book donations for the Pilar Reading Center and Project ARAL (Adopt Reading Acquire Learning) of Calongay Elementary School in Pilar, Sorsogon. If you’re interested to donate, please keep in mind that Bookbed is accepting fiction story and chapter books for children aged 4 to 12.

More information about the project may be found here.

Continue Reading

Personal, Projects, Writing

Stay With Me: A Backstage Pass B-Side

No Comments

Starting this post with a tweet–

–in which #2 means a spin-off novelette for Backstage Pass’ Gabriel and Fi! <3 Yeap, sometime during the editing process, my editor (Ninang Layla) told me she wanted to see Gabe and Fi in a book of their own. And because I’m an obedient godchild, Stay With Me was born.

Take a look at the lovely cover below.

Illustration by Shai San Jose. Layout/design by Tara Frejas.

Stay With Me
(A Backstage Pass B-Side)

“Come live with me for a while.”

Moving to Seoul for a job at an entertainment company has made a self-reliant woman out of Filipina. But when she gets injured in an accident and her boyfriend, Gabriel, proposes she move in with him until she’s back in shape, Fi reluctantly gives up her independence in favor of some TLC.

What happens when being under one roof ignites the desire she has been firmly keeping underneath the surface? Will she up and leave, or decide to stay?

This is a Backstage Pass B-Side.

Stay With Me is a short story that happens simultaneously with Play It By Ear. Official release date is May 31, 2019.

Stay tuned for more announcements!

Continue Reading

Projects, The Writing Community

A #romanceclass experiment

No Comments

First things first: Happy New Year, everybody! <3 Gosh–time flies so fast, doesn’t it? I hope everyone returned from their holiday vacations refreshed, rejuvenated, and ready for the year ahead.

So…fun fact: I had slacked off on writing early November.

(Except that’s not actually a ~fun fact, because it makes me uncomfortable that I was rather unproductive toward the year’s end, but that’s okay, I’ve already forgiven myself since I was able to churn out a couple thousand words AND finished That Thing I Was Supposed To Have Finished in October. HEYYYYYYY! <3)

Fun fact #2: I DID end up creating something else early December. With some really cool people you might already know.

Continue Reading

Personal, Projects, The Writing Community

#RomanceClass Author Take Three | Take Me Away Edition

No Comments

This month’s #RomanceClass Take Three Project will take you away to places you’ve never been, or have been, but want to go back to–through Filipino-authored romances! In this post, five authors share their favorite places, as seen in #romanceclass books. I have provided links to the books as well, in case any of them piques your interest.

Ready? Jet set? GO!

Continue Reading

Personal, Projects, The Writing Community

#RomanceClass Reader Take Three | Take Me Away Edition

No Comments

Happy Romance Awareness Month, everybody! Which romance novels have you been reading lately, and can I interest you in some Filipino-authored romances?

For this month’s #romanceclass Take Three Project, I asked readers and authors about the places in #romanceclass books that inspired them to dream of a great getaway someday soon. Check out their responses below–maybe you’ll find your next romantic adventure with these books, too!

(Links have been included to the books listed, in case you were wondering where to get them.)

Continue Reading